Sustainable Development in Construction: A Tool to Bridge the Gap between Strategic and Tactical Planning

The adoption of the principles of sustainable development (SD) is increasingly seen as an important way to align the strategic plan of organizations with the specific objectives and procedures used for project execution. However, more research is still needed to identify how SD contributes to align the strategic plan of clients of the building sector with their short-term needs of construction projects (their tactic plans).This article presents the preliminary results of an ongoing research project that hypothesises that SD contributes to bridge the gap between the strategic plan of construction clients and their project-based tactical planning. It presents a case study of an institutional construction client in Canada that has incorporated principles of SD in both project procedures and strategic management. The client currently conducts a project aiming a LEED certification. The key study findings are: (i) important changes have been noticed in the tendering process, and (ii) top-down environmental management plans and environmental management systems have been implemented under the pressure of various bottom-up initiatives of environmental responsibility. The principles of SD now transcend both short-term needs and long term responsibility, potentially facilitating the alignment of the strategic and tactical plans.